Index for PVM3 Library

PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) is a software system that enables a
collection of heterogeneous computers to be used as a coherent and
flexible concurrent computational resource. The individual computers
may be shared- or local-memory multiprocessors, vector supercomputers,
specialized graphics engines, or scalar workstations, that may be
interconnected by a variety of networks, such as ethernet, FDDI, etc.
PVM support software executes on each machine in a user-configurable
pool, and presents a unified, general, and powerful computational
environment of concurrent applications. User programs written in C
or Fortran are provided access to PVM through the use of calls to
PVM library routines for functions such as process initiation,
message transmission and reception, and synchronization via barriers
or rendezvous. Users may optionally control the execution location
of specific application components. The PVM system transparently
handles message routing, data conversion for incompatible architectures,
and other tasks that are necessary for operation in a heterogeneous,
network environment.

PVM is particularly effective for heterogeneous applications that
exploit specific strengths of individual machines on a network. As a
loosely coupled concurrent supercomputer environment, PVM is a viable
scientific computing platform. The PVM system has been used for
applications such as molecular dynamics simulations, superconductivity
studies, distributed fractal computations, matrix algorithms, and in
the classroom as the basis for teaching concurrent computing.